


Nothing Lasts

by Emolga



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Mourning, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:04:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1294126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emolga/pseuds/Emolga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots of Pearl in relation to Rose Quartz, from the moment the Gems become a group of four to the loss that changed them all forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Lasts

Pearl and Rose Quartz have been close friends for many, many years.

* * *

They’re all laughing about something trivial when Garnet arrives to break the news.  
  
Pearl clings onto Rose’s arm, watching Amethyst’s expression crumple. For a moment they simply look at one another, unsure of how to express the warring of emotion within themselves.  
  
“It’s just the four of us now, then,” Amethyst says at last, hands wringing and eyes squinting shut.  
Garnet nods.  
“Seems that way,” she says quietly. Her face is impassive, but her fists are clenched, as if in pain.  
  
Rose spreads her arms wide, enveloping everyone in a tight embrace — and Pearl stands with her head bowed in silent grief, wondering where it all went wrong.

* * *

The last of the Gems live together in a temple near the beach.  
  
For a while it feels strange to call themselves by such a strong title — the last, the remaining, the few — but they get by all the same. They watch a town build itself around their home, a place which eventually calls itself Beach City, and they protect the people who live there with all of their might.  
  
“I never thought I would find myself getting attached to such a lesser species,” Pearl comments one day as she walks down the beach in long strides, drawing lines in the sand with a twig. Beside her, Rose chuckles, her long pink hair blowing in the ocean breeze.  
“You should never get attached,” she says quietly. “Nothing lasts forever.”  
  
Pearl snaps the twig in two and flings both pieces into the surf, watching them bob around until they disappear beneath the waves.

* * *

Rose attends a human man’s musical concert and comes back smiling from ear to ear.  
  
“Was it fun?” Amethyst asks from where she’s draped over a sloping dune, a purple hand shooting out from among the reeds to catch their leader’s attention.  
Rose chuckles and collapses onto the sand beneath Amethyst's feet, her arms and legs spread out around her in the shape of a star.  
“It was amazing,” she sighs in a breath of content.  
  
Pearl glances towards Garnet in confusion only to find the other Gem pointedly looking away.

* * *

They only see Rose during emergencies now.  
  
Pearl strides down the beach alone, stick in hand, and draws swirling patterns in her wake. She stays there until the sun sets; then she breaks the stick, flinging it into the ocean, and returns to the Temple alone.

* * *

“Hi, Pearl!” Greg Universe — balding, chipper Greg — raises a hand and waves emphatically. Rose is perched atop his van, busily reading a human newspaper.  
  
Pearl ignores them both and continues onward.

* * *

Rose arrives at the Crystal Temple while Amethyst and Garnet are tag-teaming a mission.  
  
“Come in,” Pearl says, feeling like she’s greeting a stranger — but Rose shakes her head, pointing towards the shoreline.  
“Walk with me,” she requests.  
It doesn’t sound as demanding as it’s phrased, so Pearl acquiesces, grabbing a twig from the dunes on their way down the beach.  
  
For a while it seems like old times — a silent understanding is strung between them like an invisible line — but something about Rose is different. She’s tense, like the spring of a human mousetrap.  
  
“I’m pregnant,” the older gem says suddenly. Pearl stops in her tracks.  
“… Impossible,” she retorts. “We can’t—”  
“We can,” Rose replies, slowing to a gradual stop setting a hand over her gem. “There is a way. Only one.”  
  
Silence.  
  
“You can’t do this,” Pearl whispers once she finds her tongue, pleading. “You can’t. Please, Rose, there’s only four of us—”  
“—The child will take my place.”  
“That’s not good enough!”  
  
A wave crashes against the rocks. Pearl’s shoulders are raised and her teeth are clenched; Rose stands still before her, eyes closed and flower-petal hair twirling in a wild dance.  
  
“I’m sorry,” the pink Gem responds without looking at her. “It’s either me or my child, and I’ve made my choice.”  
The stick splinters in Pearl’s grasp.  
“That’s _ridiculous_!" She nearly snarls, feeling hysterical. "You’ve lost your mind! How can you be so— so—…” She wants to say ‘selfish,’ wants to shout it until everyone in Beach City knows that Rose Quartz is abandoning her mission, abandoning _them_  — but that’s not a fair accusation. None of this is fair.  
  
Pearl flings the stick into the ocean with a shriek of frustration and violently turns to Rose, her face coated in furious blush of turquoise.  
  
“You were never like this until you met _him_!” She screams, watery tracks falling from her eyes and dripping down her pointed chin.  
  
Rose takes the abuse in silence, and Pearl collapses to her knees, sobbing into her palms like an angry child.

* * *

They lose Rose like the changing of a season.  
  
Pearl sits in her room and adds water to the fountains, weeping until she’s spent and laying on her side like a rag doll. There’s a sick feeling spread through every part of her.  
  
“They named him Steven,” Garnet’s voice says through the door. She doesn’t invite herself in — she never does.  
  
Through it all, there are still four Gems left in the world.

* * *

It’s a month and three days after Rose’s sacrifice when Greg Universe shows up at the Temple with a tiny baby boy clutched to his chest.  
  
“I can’t do it,” he says through his tears, blubbering helplessly. There’s moisture caught in his beard, and the top of his head is nearly hairless. “Not without her. Not without Rose.”  
  
Pearl finds that she can’t hate him when he’s crying louder than the child in his arms.  
  
“It’s alright,” Garnet soothes as she takes the little bundle, rocking it steadily. Amethyst peers at Greg from a corner of the Temple, catlike in her mistrust, and only emerges once Baby Steven goes from wailing to sniffling.  
“He’s not gonna be like you,” the shortest Gem says disdainfully, her arms folded. “He’s gonna be like _us_.” Her words are laced with a toxin that not even a sharp look from Garnet can dispel.  
“I know,” Greg replies miserably, nearly whimpering in his distress. “I know.”  
  
Against her better judgment, Pearl reaches out and places a consoling hand on Greg’s shoulder. He turns to her, his face damp and sunburnt, and looks her in the eyes.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.  
  
Steven starts to wail again, and he doesn’t stop until Greg brings him back home.

* * *

Pearl sits cross-legged, drawing patterns into the sand with a twig. She forms petal after spiraling petal, culminating at its center like a mouth drawn up in a gasp of surprise.  
  
The sun is nearly set when Amethyst plunks beside her, legs akimbo and bare feet dipped into the foam of the lapping waves. She glances briefly at the flower inscribed beside Pearl's left leg, her nose wrinkled, and relaxes against the shore.  
  
“I figured you’d be out here,” she says conversationally, pawing at an itch beneath her left arm. Pearl hefts her shoulders up in a shrug, watching the water threaten her hard work with the promise of erasure and pretending not to care.  
“It’s peaceful,” she offers, snapping the stick in two and hurling it into the ocean. “The sky is so pink tonight.” Her voice cracks, but she pretends not to notice.  
  
Amethyst takes her hand, holding onto it like a lifeline.  
“I miss her, too,” she says without provocation, her gaze averted.  
Pearl returns Amethyst’s grasp and gives the other Gem’s hand a squeeze to ward off budding tears, staring blearily down at her feet.  
  
They sit in silence until the last details of the rose are washed away by time, pinpricks of stars spanning overhead.

* * *

Pearl and Rose Quartz were close friends, but nothing lasts forever.

**Author's Note:**

> This entire fanfic is based on two headcanons of mine: One, that Pearl was close with Rose and her death caused Pearl to become more neurotic, and two, that Gems can only reproduce living offspring by passing on their gem.
> 
> Also, Pearl is my favorite.
> 
> ... I have nothing else to say. I made myself too sad. |||orz


End file.
